Tattoo studio owner presses to do permanent makeup work in Quincy, Weymouth

Jennifer Mann

Saturday

Mar 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMMar 29, 2008 at 5:38 PM

Quincy and Weymouth ban a form of tattooing called permanent makeup. Michael Blonde, the owner of Skin Deep Tattoo parlor in Quincy, says that violates his First Amendment rights.

Perched on a stool beneath the bright fluorescent lights of his Quincy tattoo studio, Michael Blonde apologizes for the curses that smatter his speech.

But he’s (expletive) mad.

It’s been almost 20 years since he was released from Walpole State Prison after serving two years for an arson of which he was later exonerated. Still, everyday he’s getting (expletive) from the system.

Blonde, who owns the Skin Deep Tattoo parlor, says he has an innocent pursuit: he’d like to perform a type of tattooing called permanent makeup – essentially, injecting pigments for lipstick, eye paint or rouge into a person’s skin.

But permanent makeup is against local ordinances in Quincy. And in Weymouth, where Blonde lives, he was denied a license for a tattoo studio after commissioners quizzed him about doing permanent makeup there, where it is also against bylaws.

Blonde says officials are discriminating against his past, and the ordinances to deny him his constitutional right to free speech.

“My first amendment rights are being violated, and I’m tired of being beat up by the powers that be,” he said. “I’m not a perfect person – I have a past like anybody has – but I’m an honest businessman trying to do the right thing.”

Blonde has endured a fracas over his art before.

In January 2001, Quincy police charged him with tattooing a person before a Suffolk County Superior Court ruling went into effect reversing the state’s 38-year ban on tattooing. The charges were ultimately dismissed.

Harvey A. Schwartz, Blonde’s attorney, is the lawyer who argued the case before the Superior Court, arguing tattooing is an art protected by the First Amendment.

Blonde said the same logic applies with permanent makeup, and he has asked Schwartz to represent him again. He is planning to sue Quincy and Weymouth so he can do the work. Schwartz did not respond to multiple calls for comment.

“I do believe that very shortly, whether the powers that be like it or not, permanent makeup will be allowed in the city of Quincy and the town of Weymouth,” Blonde said.

State law leaves tattoo and permanent makeup licensing and inspections up to local municipalities, but the state did develop model guidelines, Department of Public Health spokeswoman Donna Rheaume said.

Quincy Health Commissioner Andrew Scheele said the city’s guidelines are based on the state model, allowing only medical doctors to do permanent makeup.

“They wanted to make sure a doctor was doing it and not just anybody,” he said. “It’s one thing to have a mistake on somebody’s arm. If you had a mistake on somebody’s eye, you could blind the person.”

Weymouth Health Director Richard Marino would not comment, other than to say Blonde’s attorney had requested documents related to the November hearing in which he was denied a license.

Blonde, who keeps a copy of the Bill of Rights in his studio on Brook Street, claims the Quincy ordinance is just another example of officials “targeting” him.

“Everyone thinks I’m this big bad guy from prison. I’m not,” he said.

He said police and health inspectors constantly hound him; Scheele and the police say the only time they respond to Skin Deep tattoo studio is to enforce the law.

“I’m at the point where enough is enough,” Blonde said.

Blonde, who is certified for the work by the American Institute of Intradermal Cosmetics, says there should be nothing illegal about wanting to look good – permanently. In communities where it is legal, he does the work for cancer patients, or those who are just sick of applying daily makeup.

He once created permanent eye makeup for a woman who lost her eyelashes due to an eye disease.

“She sat up, she looked in the mirror and saw it, and in a thick Irish brogue, she said, ‘I love it. I’ll never have to draw them again,’” he recalled.

Jennifer Mann may be reached at jmann@ledger.com.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.